GUARD gets a lifeline

GUARD gets a lifeline

superadmin2010-06-19T11:47:46+00:0019 June, 2010|Comments Off on GUARD gets a lifeline

Andrew Denholm, Education Correspondent, of the Scottish Herald reported on 24 April 2010 that a closure-threatened archaeology service at Glasgow University may be given a reprieve.

Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (Guard) established in 1989 is a commercial enterprise run by university academics which employs some 30 staff and provides archaeological services to businesses and public bodies across Scotland, and is also known for its work on Time Team, and Two Men in a Trench, co-presented by Neil Oliver and Tony Pollard, who is head of GUARD’s Centre for Battlefield Archaeology.

The university had proposed closing the division, claiming it was not meeting financial targets.

However, supporters of Guard argue that it is a viable concern which generates hundreds of thousands of pounds for the university every year, and provides an invaluable service through its television work in bringing archaeology to a wider public audience, benefiting the reputation of the university in the process.

In the light of the publicity generated by the move the ruling court of Glasgow University has now set up a sub-committee of the university’s ruling court to look at the finances of the centre, rather than moving straight to closure.